Communicating the Humanities: A Call for a Sub-Discipline to Resist Fascist Erasures and Reclaim Pluralist Histories
As a scholar of communication studying the culture-centered approach as a framework for building narratives that articulate materiality, my work has long grappled with the intersections of culture, communication, and storytelling. From the spaces of Santali villages in rural West Bengal to the digital battlegrounds of global disinformation, I have witnessed how communicative infrastructures shape, sustain, and challenge power.
One of the most insidious projects I have encountered in my scholarship is the fascist ideology of Hindutva, which seeks to rewrite India’s pluralist history into a monolithic narrative of a Hindu Rashtra (nation).
This project, with its roots in colonial constructs and fascist pedagogies, not only distorts history but erases the voices of the marginalized—Adivasis, oppressed castes, religious minorities, women, and gender-diverse communities. My experiences resisting this hegemonic force have crystallized a conviction: we need a new sub-discipline, Communicating the Humanities, to anchor the humanities in communicative practices that resist fascist erasures, amplify subaltern voices, and reclaim the pluralist ethos of human knowledge.
The Fascist Project of Hindutva and Historical RevisionismHindutva, as a political ideology, seeks to construct India as a Hindu nation, drawing on the fascist framework of a singular race, nation, and culture. Its architects, such as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and M.S. Golwalkar, explicitly admired Nazi Germany’s racial purges, advocating for a similar “purity” of Hindu identity through the exclusion of Muslims, Christians, and other minorities. This ideology manifests in communicative strategies—disinformation campaigns, digital hate, and state-sponsored historical revisionism—that erase India’s syncretic, pluralist past. From the rewriting of school textbooks to the dismantling of secular institutions, Hindutva’s project is to reimagine history as a homogenous Hindu narrative, silencing the vibrant diversity of India’s cultural fabric.
My work at the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) has confronted this project head-on. Through our research, we have documented how Hindutva’s communicative infrastructure—amplified by digital platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram—seeds Islamophobic hate and fuels violence, as seen in the 2022 Leicester riots. We have also faced organized attacks for our scholarship, from digital trolling to death threats, as Hindutva seeks to silence dissent by labeling it “anti-Hindu” or “anti-Indian.” These attacks, far from deterring us, underscore the urgency of centering communication in the humanities to challenge such fascist distortions.Why Communicating the Humanities?The humanities—history, literature, philosophy, and cultural studies—are the bedrock of human understanding, offering tools to interrogate power, preserve diversity, and imagine just futures. Yet, in an era of rising authoritarian populism, the humanities are under siege. Fascist projects like Hindutva exploit communication to rewrite history, weaponizing narratives to consolidate power. This is not unique to India. From white supremacist revisionism in the West to far-right Zionism’s narrative control, the global rise of authoritarianism thrives on communicative erasure.
A sub-discipline of Communicating the Humanities would bridge the analytical depth of the humanities with the strategic power of communication to resist these erasures. It would focus on three core pillars:
The organized attacks on our scholarship—trolls, diaspora propaganda, and petitions—further reveal the stakes. Hindutva’s hegemonic infrastructure seeks to silence dissent by framing it as “Hinduphobia,” a tactic that exploits Western multiculturalism while erasing marginalized voices. Communicating the Humanities would train scholars to navigate these communicative inversions, using rigorous argumentation to expose fascist fallacies and protect the democratic ethos of the humanities.A Vision for Communicating the HumanitiesImagine a sub-discipline where historians, communication scholars, and cultural theorists collaborate to preserve pluralist histories. Imagine curricula that teach students to deconstruct disinformation, amplify subaltern voices, and resist authoritarian narratives. Imagine global networks of scholars, supported by institutions like Massey University, standing firm against fascist threats to academic freedom. This is the promise of Communicating the Humanities.This sub-discipline would not only resist Hindutva but also address global challenges—white supremacy, authoritarian populism, and colonial legacies. It would draw on the humanities’ critical tools to analyze power and communication’s strategic power to mobilize resistance. By centering marginalized voices, it would ensure that history is not a monologue but a polyphony of narratives, reflecting the richness of human experience.A Call to ActionThe fascist project of redoing history is a global threat, and Hindutva is but one manifestation. As scholars, we must respond with urgency and vision. I call on colleagues in communication, history, cultural studies, and beyond to join in building Communicating the Humanities. Let us create spaces where the marginalized speak, where disinformation is dismantled, and where the humanities’ pluralist ethos thrives. Together, we can resist the erasure of history and build a future where knowledge is a tool for justice.
In the spirit of Gandhi’s experiments with truth, let us communicate the humanities to challenge the lies of fascism and amplify the truths of the oppressed.
Communicating the Humanities are at the core of resisting fascism.
My work at the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) has confronted this project head-on. Through our research, we have documented how Hindutva’s communicative infrastructure—amplified by digital platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram—seeds Islamophobic hate and fuels violence, as seen in the 2022 Leicester riots. We have also faced organized attacks for our scholarship, from digital trolling to death threats, as Hindutva seeks to silence dissent by labeling it “anti-Hindu” or “anti-Indian.” These attacks, far from deterring us, underscore the urgency of centering communication in the humanities to challenge such fascist distortions.Why Communicating the Humanities?The humanities—history, literature, philosophy, and cultural studies—are the bedrock of human understanding, offering tools to interrogate power, preserve diversity, and imagine just futures. Yet, in an era of rising authoritarian populism, the humanities are under siege. Fascist projects like Hindutva exploit communication to rewrite history, weaponizing narratives to consolidate power. This is not unique to India. From white supremacist revisionism in the West to far-right Zionism’s narrative control, the global rise of authoritarianism thrives on communicative erasure.
A sub-discipline of Communicating the Humanities would bridge the analytical depth of the humanities with the strategic power of communication to resist these erasures. It would focus on three core pillars:
- Witnessing and Amplifying Subaltern Voices: The humanities thrive on pluralism, yet fascist narratives marginalize the voices of the oppressed. A culture-centered approach to communication, as we practice at CARE, co-creates spaces for adivasis, Dalits, and religious minorities to narrate their histories, resisting the monolithic “Hinduness” imposed by Hindutva. Communicating the Humanities would systematize this work, training scholars to amplify subaltern epistemologies through storytelling, oral histories, and digital platforms.
- Disrupting Disinformation and Hate: Fascist ideologies rely on disinformation to rewrite history. Hindutva, for instance, uses equivocation—speaking hate internally while projecting peace externally—to obscure its violence. A sub-discipline in Communicating the Humanities would equip scholars with tools to deconstruct these communicative strategies, exposing their fallacies and fostering critical media literacy to counter disinformation.
- Safeguarding Academic Freedom and Pluralism: The attacks on CARE and the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference reveal how fascist ideologies target academic freedom to silence critique. Communicating the Humanities would advocate for robust protections, like those in New Zealand’s Education Act 1989, while fostering global networks of scholars to resist censorship and uphold pluralist knowledge production.
The organized attacks on our scholarship—trolls, diaspora propaganda, and petitions—further reveal the stakes. Hindutva’s hegemonic infrastructure seeks to silence dissent by framing it as “Hinduphobia,” a tactic that exploits Western multiculturalism while erasing marginalized voices. Communicating the Humanities would train scholars to navigate these communicative inversions, using rigorous argumentation to expose fascist fallacies and protect the democratic ethos of the humanities.A Vision for Communicating the HumanitiesImagine a sub-discipline where historians, communication scholars, and cultural theorists collaborate to preserve pluralist histories. Imagine curricula that teach students to deconstruct disinformation, amplify subaltern voices, and resist authoritarian narratives. Imagine global networks of scholars, supported by institutions like Massey University, standing firm against fascist threats to academic freedom. This is the promise of Communicating the Humanities.This sub-discipline would not only resist Hindutva but also address global challenges—white supremacy, authoritarian populism, and colonial legacies. It would draw on the humanities’ critical tools to analyze power and communication’s strategic power to mobilize resistance. By centering marginalized voices, it would ensure that history is not a monologue but a polyphony of narratives, reflecting the richness of human experience.A Call to ActionThe fascist project of redoing history is a global threat, and Hindutva is but one manifestation. As scholars, we must respond with urgency and vision. I call on colleagues in communication, history, cultural studies, and beyond to join in building Communicating the Humanities. Let us create spaces where the marginalized speak, where disinformation is dismantled, and where the humanities’ pluralist ethos thrives. Together, we can resist the erasure of history and build a future where knowledge is a tool for justice.
In the spirit of Gandhi’s experiments with truth, let us communicate the humanities to challenge the lies of fascism and amplify the truths of the oppressed.
Communicating the Humanities are at the core of resisting fascism.